


Borrowed Blue

by hulklinging



Category: New X-Men: Academy X, Young Avengers
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, M/M, New Year's Eve, Or whatever it's called, Party at the End of the Universe, sort of David/Loki if you squint, volume 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-08 00:16:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5475875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hulklinging/pseuds/hulklinging
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David has an interesting time at the party, even though he spends most of it just observing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Borrowed Blue

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt 'David/Loki, something you said I wasn't meant to hear'. It... kinda works for that?

Loki's a weird one. There's an intensity in his eyes, especially once he changes his appearance to look older, that reminds David of another boy he knew. He doesn't like to think about that (doesn't like to think about blood on his friend's hands), so he tries not to interact with him much. It's surprisingly easy. Loki mostly talks to Billy, or stares at Billy, or pointedly doesn't stare at Billy-

Much like he does with Teddy, actually.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on, and David's got the knowledge of about sixteen of those in his head, so he figures it out pretty quick.

He doesn't say anything (not his business, his focus is to save the world, save the speedster, don't make watching friends die a pattern), but he can't help but feel a bit of camaraderie with Loki, despite himself.

They move forward. They save the world. He mends bridges, sees classmates and stops letting himself flinch at the empty spaces next to them. He looks at his future and it looks a little less bleak, he breathes on a hill and finds the solution in his own head, nothing borrowed, nothing blue.

He kisses the fear away, and Tommy's saved. Something old and something new.

After that, he just watches the party, smiling. It's nice, to see his past and future all mixed up like this, celebrating the new year and making it this far. They deserve this, and all the super villains must be busy crashing the Avenger's New Years or something, because no villains show their faces.

Unless, of course, he counts the god to his right.

He made himself scarce after Patri-not showed up, but David heard him chuckle when Tommy ran off. Now he's muttering something to himself, and David doesn't mean to listen in, but sound carries here, and his ears are good, for a human. For an ex-mutant. Whatever.

"...a story. How poetic. A good exit line. It's time to leave."

He sounds like he's trying to convince himself. And David doesn't necessarily trust the god, but he gets the feeling, the looks when he thinks no one else is looking.

He doesn't turn around, but he raises his own voice, knows Loki will hear him.

"You don't have to leave."

Footsteps in the grass, and Loki is back next to him, although this time he doesn't bother to sit.

"It's not just me being noble, if that's what you think."

It isn't what David thought, but he doesn't voice this. Loki sighs in frustration, sounding more like a teenager than David thinks he's ever heard him.

"I was the one who... implied Teddy might resemble Prince Charming a little too closely."

David tenses, a fury igniting in his belly. "What the hell were you thinking."

Loki shrugs. David doesn't think he can look at him, keeps seeing the tension in Teddy's shoulders, the hurt, the absence of him.

"I was trying to push them all in the right direction. That's all." He laughs, and David wasn't aware gods could sound so self-deprecating, but now he does. "I pushed too hard. You know I stopped Billy from killing himself? Not that I want to be rewarded, seeing as it was partially my fault. But I did."

David thinks back to when he thought he knew the future, when he started making decisions for his team because he thought that he knew so much better than the rest of them. It's not a nice memory, and even the ending (a talk, a kiss, a team even tighter than before) has faded into something bittersweet.

He can't really be angry at Loki, not without also being angry with himself. And he is still angry with himself, but he doesn't want to be.

"Like you said earlier. They'd forgive you."

"He says, through clenched teeth."

David does not immediately unclench his jaw, because that would be too obvious. He does turn and look at Loki, though.

"They would. That's why they're heroes."

"Maybe I don't want to be forgiven."

Different words, same conversation as before. David thought perhaps Loki lingered so he could be convinced, but it doesn't seem to be that way. Maybe he just wanted a chance to make the same decision again.

He thinks the conversation must be over, then, but Loki doesn't move. They sit in silence a few minutes more, before Loki breaks it.

"Do you miss your powers, David?"

David is used to this question, but for some reason, all of his usual answers feel like untruths.

"I miss knowing where I belong," he admits. "When you're a mutant, you get a lot of hate, sure. But you also know where you're supposed to be." The school he remembers doesn't even exist anymore, his teammates dead or missing or unrecognizable. And so is he, really, so far from the boy that took Dani up on her offer.

Loki smiles.

"We have a lot more in common than I initially thought."

Loki leans down and kisses David's cheek, chaste and just a little teasing.

"Enjoy the party," he whispers, and then he really does leave, and David is left alone again.

Except he looks down the hill at his friends, at his new team, and that loneliness that's been dogging his footsteps since M-Day isn't as pronounced as usual. Not alone, then. Not anymore.


End file.
